Today the team was requested by NWAS (Manchester) to assist with an incident at a residential care home in the Walkden, Worsley area of Salford.

Following reports of a lady falling and seriously injuring her leg, an NWAS Manchester RRV and Emergency Ambulance was dispatched immediately. When arriving on scene, the RRV Paramedic realised he would need urgent assistance, in addition to the already responding ambulance crew, due to the serious nature of the injury.

The team was paged by NWAS at 17:38 and answered by Team President Bob Hutchinson who was operating as our de-facto Team Leader over the Bank Holiday due to our Team Leader and Deputy Team Leader both being away on holiday. A full team call-out followed shortly after and team members started to arrive at the incident location very quickly. As soon as there were enough team members on scene, the team assisted the NWAS staff present in transfering the casualty on to a specialist lifting sheet which was then inflated to raise the casualty to the height of the ambulance stretcher trolley. The lady was then moved across on to the trolley and wheeled through the building and out to the waiting Emergency Ambulance. Shortly after our first team Land Rover Ambulance arrived on scene a full stand down was sent at 18:10 as there were then enough people on scene to deal with the incident. Team members then returned to their homes and all team vehicles were back at their base locations by 18:40.

This incident illustrates the close working relationship between the team and NWAS (Manchester) control and “road” crews; not just on incidents within the rural and moorland environment, but also wherever our help can be given to better the patient outcome.